Singapore – Public Groupe’s creative communication hub Publicis Communications has promoted Sharim Gubbels, its former group creative director, to be its new executive creative director for advertising agency Leo Burnett in Singapore.
Gubbels has been with Publicis Communications for the past five years, focusing on growing social and digital expertise across Publicis’ brands. In his former role, Gubbels has previously worked with Leo Burnett for the past 18 months leading the McDonald’s account. He has also worked on Samsung, Audi, and Disney accounts.
In his new role at Leo Burnett, Gubbels will be working closely with Publicis Communications’ CEO Lou Dela Pena and Chief Creative Officer Jennie Morris. He will be responsible for reimagining the agency’s ethos of HumanKind – the agency’s bold philosophy that represents the notion that ads must be centered on meaningful experiences – and what it means for creativity and clients in the new normal.
Commenting on his promotion, Gubbels said, “HumanKind is such a powerful way to create and foster true connections between brands and people, and I can’t wait to further expand on Leo Burnett’s already amazing body of work, and its ethos.”
Meanwhile, Morris shared that as the world re-evaluates what is really important and returns to the ideals of culture and community, there has never been a more important time for its ethos of ‘HumanKind’. With this, she sees Gubbels as the perfect person to lead the creative charge at Leo Burnett.
“Work like the highly acclaimed McDonald’s Ramadan ‘My Happy Table’ activation shows the power of what’s possible when we set out to not just solve business problems, but human problems,” said Morris.
Dela Pena also commented that they are excited to elevate one of their brightest talents to lead the next chapter of Leo Burnett’s growth and to deepen human connections for their current and future clients.
Last April, Leo Burnett launched one of its projects with McDonald’s Singapore, physical activation ‘My Happy Table’. It uses technology and a camera set-up to help Singapore-based individuals ‘reunite’ with their families in Malaysia during Ramadan.
